Fire

[jomoco]

How did the forests ever survive without us?

Jomoco

 

[Skeans]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[RandyMac]

Mendo Fire 350k and still on the move, one firefighter killed today.

 

[PasoRoblesJimmy]

Here you go..Straight from an air tanker pilot.

This explains why we have the fires and shows you the fuel on the ground

California Wildfires 2018 - California's Unsustainable Legacy

 

[Canyon Angler]

Interesting overview and history in that video, thanks for posting. (I just jumped onto this thread for the first or second time today, so have not been following the discussion.)

 

[Hddnis]

Juan Browne is the best, he's the best reporter out there. He had the best information available on the Oroville dam incident and a host of other topics. He gives clear information without an agenda driven filter. Just a good guy overall.

 

[RandyMac]

Rest in peace Draper Battalion Chief Matthew Burchett, your brothers and sisters will take it from here.

 

[Drptrch]

Great Ariel and hand firing op on the East side of the Mend from Crackerbox Ridge down to Fouts spring

Winds cooperated, Small slop at bottom hit by 2 buckets and Mendo Shots [emoji106][emoji106]


Erik

 

[ropensaddle]

I was out at elk creek road two weeks ago working red flag. I thought last year was bad from the looks of it this year is horrible. I have a lot of fire fighters in my motel my hat is off to them. The smoke so far is all i have dealt with and 2 days off in a month. I just feel for all involved especially those fighting the fires and of course victims we need a good rain with no lightning. Anyway you guys out there stay safe!

 

[M.R.]

It’s prime & bad alright!

 

[RandyMac]

08/15/18 fire crews held the Ranch Fire to about 3k acres, 08/16/18, the Ranch Fire said ''Hold my beer''...

 

[RandyMac]

Lots burnt in the last 30 years.

 

[2dogs]

Juan Browne has his one perspective regarding California wildfires. Good for him. The problem from my perspective is building homes in the wildland, that is the greater problem. We do need to manage our forests but to what extent. How much money should we be spending for example to save somebody's house? Should we spend a million dollars to save a $200k house that never should have been built in the first place? Should each home owner be required to pay say 1% of the replacement cost each year in insurance? Should each home be required to pay a fire protection fee in addition to property taxes that will be collected by the state and federal governments?

Here in cannabis country every parcel of land has some sort of "commercial" operation going on. Along with weed comes honey oil, meth, and a bunch of unpermitted structures housing "employees" many of whom are heavily armed. When there is a fire everyone involved just drives away. That land should be confiscated by the government and promptly sold at auction with the provision it can never be used to grow weed again. (The so called mom-and-pop operations generally require a huge hazmat cleanup after any fire).

Juan was on land he didn't know who the owner was. That tall brush could be managed but if the land is private who should pay? If it is government land I guess taxes will have to go up on... somebody. Should someone living in Oklahoma have to pay for brush removal in Cali? I don't think I should be paying for tornado preparations in Oklahoma. If it is federal land I guess everyone will have to pay so the union can put workers to work. Property taxes, brush taxes, handcrew taxes, air tanker taxes, school bonds (I pay $1k each year in school bonds and every year there is another voted in by our local university students), highway bonds, library bonds, homeless resource projects, solar panels bonds where the panels will be obsolete and need replacing years before the bond is paid off.

Juan wants cities to grow vertically but Cali has ancient infrastructure and no more water. (There is a project being build right now that is constructing two 35' diameter tunnels from the Sacramento delta to SoCal.) Desal plants produce extremely expensive water but the wealthy don't really care about that. And don't forget the crazy train being built under the watchfull eye of the Union under Governor Moonbeam. (I don't think it will ever be completed, it was just a gift to the unions).

And then there is the crime in Cali. In my little city the police Chief Andy Mills has told us to stop calling the police for property crimes! Then he brags that crime has decreased because there are fewer calls for service. Property crime is huge but it's invisible these days.

Anyway, the only answer is to pay much higher taxes and trust the government to save us.

 

[madhatte]

The problem from my perspective is building homes in the wildland, that is the greater problem. We do need to manage our forests but to what extent. How much money should we be spending for example to save somebody's house? Should we spend a million dollars to save a $200k house that never should have been built in the first place? Should each home owner be required to pay say 1% of the replacement cost each year in insurance? Should each home be required to pay a fire protection fee in addition to property taxes that will be collected by the state and federal governments?

Exactly. In addition to fire issues, I'll add flood and landslide issues. The Oso Landslide here in 2014 is a perfect example; state and county agencies had been aware of the hazard posed by the unstable slope for decades yet the county played dumb when the tragedy occurred. County governments seldom say "no" to risky construction because they just can't pass up that sweet, sweet tax revenue. Then the state and federal agencies pick up the bill to clean up the mess when something goes wrong. What we have here, really, is a dysfunctional relationship between the different levels of government and a willingness to pass the buck on problems in the long run in order to shore up a funding gap in the short run. Sound familiar? I imagine that it does to anybody who has ever worked in government service at any level.

 

[northmanlogging]

Exactly. In addition to fire issues, I'll add flood and landslide issues. The Oso Landslide here in 2014 is a perfect example; state and county agencies had been aware of the hazard posed by the unstable slope for decades yet the county played dumb when the tragedy occurred. County governments seldom say "no" to risky construction because they just can't pass up that sweet, sweet tax revenue. Then the state and federal agencies pick up the bill to clean up the mess when something goes wrong. What we have here, really, is a dysfunctional relationship between the different levels of government and a willingness to pass the buck on problems in the long run in order to shore up a funding gap in the short run. Sound familiar? I imagine that it does to anybody who has ever worked in government service at any level.

The after effects of Oso, are arguably worse then then the cost of the slide rescue.

with huge settlements, massive court fees, and the cost of rebuilding the highway, its nearly bankrupted this crappy little county

Meanwhile the county expects 20000 more people to move in in the next like 5 years. Yet because of the slide, they A: put a moratorium on building near sloped ground (90% of the county) B: increased permit fees C: will not permit forestry actions at all D: make you sign all sorts of ridiculous crap about knowing its going into a slide prone area, in their definition anything on a hill, regardless of underlying geologic structure

All of this BS passed within months of the slide, some of it before all of the victims where found, all of it with no regard for what actually caused the slide.

The county was kwick to blame logging, even though the official report sited unusually heavy rain fall and the river undercutting the toe of the mountain (notably things nearly everyone local pointed out) mentioning that logging while out of bounds, had little if any effect on the slide, Yet the company responsible for the logging is on the hook for a share of the settlements, and court fees.

Also note, the slide is indirectly responsible for the murders of at least 2 people, property was condemned, dude got angry killed neighbors...

Anyway what Im getting at is, more responsible people need to run for office at the local level, not just the reactionary asb president dip ***** that are running now, its all about the pretty face, rather then the good of the city, county, state, country... Im seriously considering running, simply because the planning and devolopment in this county has their heads up their asses

 

[2dogs]

Ok it is probably a little presumptuous of me to comment on this since I'm retired but here goes. I see way to many images of firefighters, mostly local government, covered in slurry from air tanker drops. (I've been rained on lightly a couple of times and hit once hard by a bucket drop.) These images are all over facebook and twitter and I suppose snapchat. Somehow a pinked out ff is a sign of courage or the badge of a "hero". I say ********. It is the sign of a mistake that should not be allowed to happen. It should be the sign that something wrong just happened here. Instead of showing off these ff's need to be interviewed for an AAR so that it does not happen again. Now we have learned that one of the ff's killed on the Mendo Complex was killed when a VLAT drop broke branches of a tree striking the ff. (I don't know more than that at this time.)

For those of you on the fireline whether ff or contractor please stay as far as possible from any retardant drop or bucket drop. Don't risk your life just to be part of the club and get a cool picture.

(I also hate seeing over weight guys from volunteer departments especially "battalion chiefs" out on the fireline. How many times have you seen chiefs on an engine from some little department because they know they are making $1,000.00 per day just to polish a seat?) Rant off. For now.

 

[2dogs]

For my last two posts there is a lot I left out for the sake of clarity. In particular I never mentioned timber sales for the first post. For the second I hate seeing unqualified guys running a chainsaw.

 

[M.R.]

Thought this might be worth sharing

 

[2dogs]

Cute poem.

 

[madhatte]

Anyway what Im getting at is, more responsible people need to run for office at the local level, not just the reactionary asb president dip ***** that are running now, its all about the pretty face, rather then the good of the city, county, state, country... Im seriously considering running, simply because the planning and devolopment in this county has their heads up their asses

Go for it, yo. I'd vote for you.

For those of you on the fireline whether ff or contractor please stay as far as possible from any retardant drop or bucket drop. Don't risk your life just to be part of the club and get a cool picture.

It's a rare fire day when I remember to take any pictures. I wish I did more often; I see a lot of cool stuff.

Cute poem.

Yeah, it does a good job of encapsulating the frustration many have with the state of things. Unfortunately, it overlooks how hard we actually work in the industry to prevent that kind of administrative overreach, to no avail. I suppose it's frustrating all around.